Browse Skills Articles

The explosion of online social media can feel daunting. Not only do you have to figure out how to use Twitter, you have to figure out how to use it effectively. Is Facebook a prospecting gold mine or a monumental waste of time. With new web technologies cropping up almost every day, it is even harder to figure out which ones ...

The marketing experts tell us that there are three steps to getting our customers to act to choose us - think, feel, and do. Last month, we discussed some of the items that develop the "think" component, making people aware of your company. We stressed the importance of the basics in getting your Web site to best represent your company and ...

Customer service is built on the bedrock of a positive attitude. Without the positive attitude all of the attempts to "train" customer service will fail. Picture this; a man, Mr Jones, walks up to the front desk of an hotel at the beginning of a holiday. He has just completed a twelve hour flight in economy class overnight to reach his ...

You know that I am passionate about good customer relations, any of my clients will confirm that fact, and I fervently believe that the focus of all modern management thinking and strategic business practice has to be the customer. Common sense suggests that keep your customers happy and your sales will continue to soar - neglect them or take them for ...

The fact that a T-Mobile ad has attracted more views on YouTube than Barack Obama's historic inauguration speech may be viewed by some as a dispiriting sign of the times. The clip of commuters breaking into a dance routine at London's Liverpool Street station is, at the time of writing, the 57th most- viewed YouTube clip of all time. Its popularity ...

There is a growing need to make an immediate impact on consumers in a world where they are relentlessly exposed to thousands of marketing messages a day. This has led to a temptation for some retailers and brand owners to abandon the traditional field- marketing techniques of merchandising, auditing, sampling and mystery shopping, in favor of more experiential methods. Fully aware ...

Success in sales depends directly on your ability to make yourself likeable, and create a positive experience for your customers. The following 9 Tips are some of the best - and easiest - ways I know to help you create a more positive customer experience: 1. Love what you sell, the company you work for and the customers you serve. If ...

In my book, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, I teach small and mid-size business owners who can't afford to hire professional copywriters how to write effective copy that will bring the results from their marketing efforts that they want and need. However, just as there are steps you must take to write great copy, there are also mistakes you can ...

Inventor Michael Boehm's instincts told him the concept he had been shopping to various manufacturers—a portable contact grill that cooks food items faster and more healthfully—had great promise. So why couldn't he find a corporate partner to help take the product to market? It was 1993, and Boehm had spent a year fruitlessly searching for someone to buy into his idea. ...

Companies, organizations and even individuals spend years of toil and treasure to create a brand that sets them apart from their competition. The investment in terms of time, money and creativity can be massive. The impact a well developed brand can have can’t be overestimated. Some brands are so recognizable that people think they know and understand the company or organization ...

Do you remember the story of Chicken Little? If one person tells you the sky is falling, you laugh at him. But if you're told the same story over and over, pretty soon you believe it. This also rings true with branding - just because everyone else is saying or doing something doesn't mean that it works. Time and again I ...

With the global credit crunch biting hard, companies often feel pressured to spend more money on their marketing in the hope that they will get noticed in a crowded market space. There is another way! 1. Know Who You Are Trying to Attract It sounds simple but who precisely do you want as your clients? What are their characteristics? Break the ...

Brands are like beauty queens: Even the most illustrious need makeovers from time to time. Big names overhaul their brands to boost sales by getting back in touch with their original identity, or forging a new and improved one. Not so long ago, Target competed directly with other discount big-box stores. Today, it has a distinct image, affluent customers and powerful ...

Unpredictable. Slow. Bleak. Grim. Gloomy. All words that have been used to describe the economic outlook for the balance of 2008—and depending upon who you talk to, the scenario for 2009 and beyond. Standard & Poor's believes the economic difficulties we've been experiencing due to the mortgage mess and skyrocketing oil prices will be at their worst early next year (BusinessWeek.com, ...

The buy-local movement isn't new. For the past decade, independent businesses have banded together to urge local consumers to spend more of their dollars closer to home. Proponents say doing so helps build vibrant local economies by keeping money circulating in the area rather than elsewhere, while detractors say the economic benefits are negligible. Now, amid the sinking national economy, some ...

Times are tough. It can be difficult to keep your focus on driving the top line when the bottom line is bleeding red. A lot of us can identify with John Krafcik, acting president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America, when he says, "Flat is the new up." Still, you know you can't put your marketing program entirely on hold. You ...

Discounting stinks. As a marketer whose job is to create preference and profitability for my clients, I don't like discounting. In fact, I hate it. I call it the D-word. It's distracting. It's demeaning. It's destructive and depressing. And yet I see companies do it all the time. These days discounting is more prevalent than ever. Now into the second year ...

Q: Everyone says we are supposed to grow our business digitally in this digital age. But for the average small business, what really can or are we supposed to do, other than have a great website and maybe a blog? — Bill A: Yes, we have all heard the same advice, and I am even responsible for disseminating some of it: ...

Buyers try to make everything we sell into a commodity. "You're no different than your competitors," is their mantra. As salespeople, we have to engineer solutions to our clients' problems instead. Unique Product vs. Commodity One of my clients is a Wisconsin-based equipment manufacturer for the food, dairy, chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech and beverage industries. They sell their products to ConAgra, Kraft, ...

The streets are paved with gold for marketers brave enough to step into the new virtual world. Web 2.0 has arrived, and its leaders are three-dimensional social networking sites, where visitors create avatars that make friends, build homes, earn and spend virtual currency, and craft just about anything they can imagine out of thin air. A pioneer in this terrain, American ...